Americans don't want the jobs Trump wants to bring back

In doing some research on a future commentary about the US economy, I came across some statistics that once again indicate the wide disconnect between the MAGA agenda and societal reality.  They centered on the battle cry of what our esteem president leader espouses, namely, “bringing back jobs to American factories.”  On the surface who would argue with such a noble idea?  In fact, in a recent poll, conducted by Cato Institute, some 80% of the respondents felt that the U.S. might benefit from this.

However, among this same group only 25% felt they would be better off working a factory job.   And only a slim 36% responded that they would be interested in pursuing such employment.

According to Fortune Magazine there are more than half a million factory jobs available.  However, while President Trump and his supporters seek to increase American factory jobs, in reality, facts indicate that there is presently no workforce interested in seeking such employment, with the exception of immigrants.  Over twenty-three percent of immigrants presently work these jobs.  And from this poll’s results, it is obvious that the Republican battle cry that immigrants are stealing factory jobs from native-born American workers is, to coin one of their favorite slogans, “fake news.” Good old Americans simply don’t want these jobs.

However, further complicating this issue, is the fact that 66% feel that the biggest boost to the American economy lies with international trade as opposed to increasing the number of factory jobs, and retaliatory tariffs hinder this. 

I am presently 80 years old, only two years older than President Donald Trump, and I am willing to admit that I have no business serving as president because I am ‘out of touch’ with our current society.  And while I might like to have a time machine so that I could go back to earlier times that I better understood, and thus give me a greater sense of security, I realize that this is just not possible. And it’s past the time for President Donald Trump and his supporters to realize that all the executive orders in the world (over 200 and counting) will also never be able to do this, for as the famous Bob Dylan song title so aptly puts it “The Times They Are A- Changin’.”

Sometimes reality is very scary because it breeds insecurity, and many attempt to regain their security by denying its existence and returning to the past.  And therein lays the present problem.